The television presenter Ulrika Jonsson says her former lover Sven Goran Eriksson was "too frightened" to leave his Italian girlfriend, according to newspaper reports.

Speaking in her first interview since confirming her affair with the England manager, Jonsson reportedly told the Daily Mail being with Nancy Dell'Olio "was not the life that he wanted".

"He was going to end things, irrespective of me," she is quoted as saying.

Eriksson and girlfriend Nancy Dell'Olio have stayed together

"I can only believe what people say, he's frightened of her."

According to the paper, Jonsson, 35, met Eriksson at a party held by Tony Blair's spin doctor Alastair Campbell.

He reportedly asked her in Swedish if she would give him her telephone number so that he could call her.

She said in the newspaper her relationship with Eriksson was "loving" and not "shabby, shoddy or cheap".

"I felt very loved by him. He was charming and generous emotionally. He was a real gentleman," she added.

During the affair, Eriksson, 54, "visited her home", took her out for "lunch and dinner" and "phoned two or three times a day".

The mother-of-two reportedly said she did not look back on the four-month relationship with her fellow Swede "with any longing" but added: "I do have moments when I think 'Well, that's a great shame'."

'Not important'

Eriksson said on Friday he does not worry that revelations in Jonsson's autobiography could affect his position as England manager.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's Euro 2004 qualifier in Slovakia, Eriksson dismissed the book as "other things which are not that important".

He said: "I have absolutely no idea what is coming out so you can't be afraid of what you don't know will happen. I want to win this game and that's it."

The pair's affair hit the headlines in April.

It was Jonsson who finally ended the speculation, issuing a statement admitting they had been close.

But she strongly denied allegations that she him issued an ultimatum to leave his girlfriend.